The Major League Baseball season has begun, with the New York Yankees playing the Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox playing the Pittsburgh Pirates. But all Yankees and Red Sox fans know that no games capture the heart more than those that pit the guys from the Bronx against the guys from Fenway.
A new exhibit at Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury celebrates this time-honored rivalry, which is especially fierce in Connecticut, lying dead center between the twin hearts of the baseball universe. The impressive exhibit offers a good opportunity to lure people into an art museum who never would have gone into one before.
The show was curated by local sports enthusiast Neil Scherer, who devised the idea in 2004, when the Red Sox spanked the Yankees in the American League Championship Series and then won their first World Series in 86 years. Scherer included terrific artifacts from the history of both teams, but the exhibit is a bit New York-heavy, with additional elements focusing on the Giants, Mets and Dodgers. His wall text is more informal than is usually seen in museums, even acknowledging Bucky Dent’s unprintable nickname.
The exhibit is filled with news clippings, ticket stubs, action shots, hats, bats, uniforms, a copy of the contract that sent Babe Ruth from the Red Sox to the Yankees, seats pulled out of the old Yankee Stadium, a piece of the Green Monster and autographs of every one of the 1927 Yankees.
The most unusual artifact is the Yankee Stadium home plate used on Oct. 8, 1956, Game 5 of the World Series, in which Don Larsen pitched a perfect game. It is signed by Larsen and Yankees catcher Yogi Berra.
A pennant honoring the retirement of Carl Yastrzemski is seen in a framed collection of Yaz memorabilia. Roger Maris’ “61 in ’61” accomplishment is remembered in a collection of autographs by more than 40 of the pitchers who gave up those home runs.
The history of Waterbury in baseball is honored, with a mention of Red Sox center fielder Jimmy Piersall, the most famous Waterbury native to make the major leagues.
The exhibit’s show-stopper is a painted and drawn artwork by Adam Port, “Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man in the World,” which is so realistic that from a distance it looks like a photograph.
The show will be up until after the World Series. If the Yanks or the Sox make it, fans can come to the Mattatuck and cheer them on. If they don’t, they can come to console themselves that spring will soon be here again.
YANKEES OR RED SOX: AMERICA’S GREATEST RIVALRY is at Mattatuck Museum, 144 West Main St. in Waterbury, until Nov. 12. mattatuckmuseum.org.
